Intestate - sibling difficulties

pinkflop

Hi,

My dad died 6 weeks ago and I'm concerned that my brother will not distribute his estate correctly. I have never had any dealings with death / inheritance etc so am really unsure about the whole process and am hoping for some advice.

Basic background:
My dad was an alcoholic and my mum divorced him 30 years ago
He never paid a penny in maintenance for us
He never maintained contact
There are 4 children, I am the youngest.
One of my brothers searched and found him, maintained sporadic contact
Dad died 6 weeks ago, left no will but has around £30,000 in his current account, and a pension. Lived in Housing Association flat, paid all bills on time so seems to be no debt.

Now here's the difficulty. My sister and I are close, but our two brothers stopped talking to us around 8 years ago following a dispute. The older brother (let's call him Brother 1) has contacted us and told us there is money in my dads estate and the other brother (one who had contact with dad, let's call him Brother 2) is being a bit 'shifty' and seems to think that as he is the only one who had contact with dad, he should get everything.

Brother 1 said he doesn't care about the family disputes leading to us all not talking but he says our dad owes us for the abandonment we suffered and we are entitled to a quarter each of the estate and he will make sure it happens.

Apparently Brother 2 has closed my dad's account already and moved it to 'another' account that he opened. Is he allowed to do this? Is this normal to move money from the deceased persons account? Does this mean that he is the 'administrator' for the estate?

I have no idea if they are using a solicitor although I think Brother 1 did mention one in the (only) telephone conversation we had.

When the inheritance is paid to us, how is it paid? By a solicitor? From my brother (if he is the administrator)? And how do we know that the amount we receive is correct? Are we allowed to see / request all documentation? Can my brother give us a smaller amount if he so decides? If a solicitor is acting, would he not need mine and my sisters information? Birth certificate for proof that he was our dad?

Although Brother 1 has said he'll make sure we get the right amount (he and Brother 2 are close but he said he's already rowed with him about it) we cannot entirely trust him as he has been out of our lives for 8 years and has said some dreadful things about my sister and I. However, I don't want to make matters worse or make it look like I'm 'money grabbing' by asking to see documents / question things.

So sorry if I'm asking questions that are pretty obvious. As I said before, I am completely new to all of this!

PS Please be gentle with me - it's all very difficult. Not only am I trying to grieve over the father I never had, and will now never have, I am also trying to deal with all the family disputes :(:(:(

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Yorkshireman99

You might like to read the "sticky" at the beginning of theis board. If there is no wife then the four chldren inherit eqaully assuming you are in England and Wales. The bank will have asked for an indemnity before handing over th money. One or more of the children needs to apply for letters of administration to deal with the estate. After all the debts are paid then the assets can be distributed.

TBagpuss

You and your other siblings can apply to administer the estate.
Your brother may have been able to withdraw the money from dad's bank account by signing an indemnity - in other words, he would have signed forms for the bank confirming he was entitled to deal with the property.

you and your siblings are all equally entitled to deal with the estate and to have sight of all the papers. Alternatively, you could agree for one or two of you to deal with the estate and account to the others.

Money could be paid to you by your brother if he administers the estate, or from the solicitor if your brother uses one. For an estate of £30,000 a solicitor may not be necessary. Whoever deals with the estate will need to ensure than any debts are paid first, before the money is divided up.

Yorkshireman99

TBagpuss wrote: »

You and your other siblings can apply to administer the estate.
Your brother may have been able to withdraw the money from dad's bank account by signing an indemnity - in other words, he would have signed forms for the bank confirming he was entitled to deal with the property.

you and your siblings are all equally entitled to deal with the estate and to have sight of all the papers. Alternatively, you could agree for one or two of you to deal with the estate and account to the others.

Money could be paid to you by your brother if he administers the estate, or from the solicitor if your brother uses one. For an estate of £30,000 a solicitor may not be necessary. Whoever deals with the estate will need to ensure than any debts are paid first, before the money is divided up.

The bank may be forced to pay thr money to the estate and reclaim it from the brother.

konark

Who has the death certificate? Whoever has that is in the box-seat. Banks will happily give large amounts of the deceased's estate on just a death certificate and a proof that you are the next of kin.

I wouldn't count of seeing penny one of your share if you wait for your brother to give it you The only way to force the issue is for you to apply to be administrator, then brother 2 either has to apply himself and contest your appointment thus putting the assets into the public domain, or hand the money over to you as the legal representative of the estate.

Who is paying for the funeral?

I must say I find it surprising that an alcoholic has 30 large that hasn't been converted to , let's say, more liquid assets. Hopefully he declared it to the DWP or they may come with their begging bowl if he was on any means-tested benefits.